American Literary Misfits
The Alternative Democracies of Mid-nineteenth-century Print Cultures
The University of North Carolina Press · Print & ebook · April 2, 2024
The study of nineteenth-century American literature has long been tied up with the study of American democracy.
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- Who it’s for
- D. Berton Emerson examines overlooked literary texts for political knowledge rooted in local life.
- Genres
- 19th-Century Literary Criticism, American Lit Crit, Politics in Literature
- Published
- The University of North Carolina Press, April 2, 2024
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Start with this bookAbout this book
The study of nineteenth-century American literature has long been tied up with the study of American democracy. Just as some regions in the United States are elevated to stand in for the whole nation—New England is a good example—D. Berton Emerson argues the same is true for American literature of the nineteenth century; a few canonical texts overrepresent the more motley history of American letters.
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Emerson examines an eclectic group of literary texts that have rarely, if ever, been considered representative of “the nation” because of their unseemly characters or plots, divergence from dominant literary trends of the era, or local particularity. These are his “literary misfits,” authors and texts that show different forms of egalitarianism in action that existed outside and even against the dominant liberal narratives of American democracy. Emerson’s unique contribution is revealing these texts and the people they represent as rich with political knowledge. This knowledge, he argues, finds its most potent expression in the local. Such texts show us a different kind of democratic politics: one that is egalitarian, disorderly, and radical rather than homogeneous.
Local Democratic Politics
D. Berton Emerson examines overlooked literary texts for political knowledge rooted in local life.
Come here for
- Literary texts rarely treated as representative of the nation
- Political knowledge expressed in local contexts
Expect
- Egalitarian forms of democratic politics
- Disorderly and radical alternatives to homogeneous politics
Where it sits
| 19th-Century Literary Criticism | 70% |
|---|---|
| Politics in Literature | 40% |
| American Lit Crit | 37% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- 19th-Century America
- Politics in Literature
- American Studies
- Authors
- D. Berton Emerson
- Publisher
- The University of North Carolina Press
- Published
- April 2, 2024
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Reading lane
- 19th-Century America